Discussion Topic

Entertaining but I it does upset me when I see them doze acres of forest land down to nearly bedrock just so they can make a buck. I guess that is ok up there in Alaska? If they did that down here they would have to replace the soil and rehab the land when they are done ... up there it seems they just destroy and move on. The leader of the Oregon crew... big Todd... seems to be very close to being an idiot, constantly making all kinds of wild pronouncements that never seem to come true, all the while screwing up things he touches, as much as possible. Anyway there is probably a thread about this but I haven't seen it... so maybe this has already been hashed out. The kid, Parker, seems to know a whole lot more about mining than the Oregon crew. Opinions please!

Reality TV at it's best where just about everyone is six sigmas from normal. These shows love to feature the ignorant, arrogant and insecure (wasn't that the title of some climbing article from way back:-)). Too bad they are raping the Alaskan countryside.

There ain't one of the whole lot, including the nice young kid, who make
any decisions based on anything other than wild conjecture. Pretty sad.
That crazy Bohunk dood is the only one who has any clue. He at least does
test bores.

I watch it, it's got me in its clutches.
Tood does seem to be a grade A moron. Shoot first, ask questions later. Who the hell would give that guy any money? Oh right, some Texan.
Dakota Fred has done some rather impressive on sight fabrications that has got his heavy equipment up and running again.

Hydrolic mining did a helluva number on the landscape in California. Mining ain't pretty.

If you think those guys are rednecks, you haven't seen the toothless hillbillies that make up the cast of Moonshiners. Straight outta "Deliverance", some of em. While at least they aren't digging up whole tracts of land, they do leave their garbage all over the woods.

What made me go "GRRRR" was one of the first episodes when they had just established their "compound". Black bears were coming out of hibernation & heading downhill.....so of course they had to shoot one of the "vicious" animals encroaching on their digs. Watching the mad scramble, I noticed that pretty much every flat surface (cable spool "table", coolers, etc)
had food of some kind on it...bag of chips, box of crackers, etc. It's tragic that their complete ignorance resulting in shooting a bear....

Who'd be crazy enough to back them financially? The same ones who deal with Nigerian princes, I guess.

I forget who the smart Scottsman is who helps with the bore holes, in one of the episodes the guy admidts to getting 4 oz/day.... he is not a goober like the rest of them.

These REALITY shows are stupid... but they get me thinking about just what would make a cool show, I think I have the answer....

YOSAR... Can you see the cool episode... start off with Werner and his crew hanging in Camp 4.... you know just working out, some go climbing... others hang in the Bar all nite... then the BIG CALL for help comes...
and the TEAM springs into action.... TOP OF THE CAP... Werner gets lowered over the edge... into the great void of real exposure... gets down to the stranded Frenchmen..... Ve are so grateful, you have saved us....

Anyone got a gopro? I know where there,s this canyon...
I have beer, guns, chips, goldpans, and video editing software...
And the bears should be coming out of hibernation...
Last year upstream of my target area there was a totally illegal high-banker set-up, and a dude wandering around uphill with an AR15,...
and I can TOTALLY dress the part of an undereducated texas redneck, hell I lived there half a year in my twenties!

Pilot-episode for a new redmeck-channel reality series, anyone? Plain old-fashioned redneck epic perhaps? Adventure likely... Death and disorientation possible...
But you gota leave that prayin crap at home.

yep, there's nothing more aggravating than a bunch of guys working hard to provide a product that we all demand...who the hell do they think they are digging for gold just to sell to a bunch of righteous computer, cell phone, and medical device manufacturers?

Conflict within the group. Team players gotta go. Most organizations want a crew that works well together. YOU don't. Nobody wants to watch a gold-mining show where the cast actually mines gold. That would be as dull for the viewer as watching climbers climbing. It's the personality clashes that makes this sh#t sell.

Unnecessary beligerence. Your cast needs to be overly aggressive about all things, especially things on which they disagree. This sows the seeds for...

Arguements and fights. Once again, you can't expect someone to spend 15 minutes watching actual gold mining. The viewers would fall asleep. It's the constant fights that viewers seem to want, the same way NASCAR wouldn't sell without the constant wrecks.

Keeping "score". You gotta find a way to make some kind of "box score" to turn an occupation into a competition. This expands the conflict from within an organization to conflict among many organizations. That gets the viewers to tune in next week, so they can find out whether the group of beligerent buttheads they sided with during the arguments and fights come out *ahead*, or not.

Time element. You have to always be running out of time. No one wants to watch a program that runs 50 weeks straight, then takes a couple weeks off in summer ( like the actual job ). You need the season to end, so you can declare a "winner" ( a paycheck used to make you a winner, pre-TV ).

oh, there,s plenty opportunity for conflict. After all, I,m lookin for partners on a climbing forum to go canyoning in a way that conflicts with the leave no trace ethic, while packing, and consuming beer. Did I mention the bolt kit?
We can keep score in bolts-vs-nuggets. When is there not some climber-belayer miscommunication conflict going on? And the winner is...
the dude who makes it out.
Time limits? Easy, tryn to summit before dark. With a next-season hook suggesting benightment in the lightning... and I can borrow a banjo.

Friends here in BC that mine say they can't pull off most of what goes on with those TV shows. They have to replace water in creeks cleaner than they took it out, re-build and plant any land they uncover, etc. I think you have different rules in Alaska.